New trusted-traveller program will only benefit a select few, first people-to-people visitors to Cuba have mixed reactions, Britons narrowly escape the final day of a 3,200-mile journey across the Indian Ocean, and more. Here are the stories that travellers are buzzing about:

JetBlue
pilots vote against union representationThe 58% majority of JetBlue pilots who voted
against joining a union helped the carrier retain its status as the
biggest US airline without an organised labour group. Avoiding union costs has
helped JetBlue keep expenses below many of its competitors throughout the
11-year history of the company, Bloomberg reports. According to the Wall Street
Journal, the airline has never furloughed pilots
or administered pay cuts, measures many other airlines have
taken during times of financial constraint.

New
trusted-traveller program will only benefit a select fewThe first phase of the TSA's new trusted-traveller
program — meant to reduce security lines in the United States for those deemed
worthy — is set to kick of this fall, but only
a select few will avoid removing their shoes and laptops, Chris Elliott
reports. The program, which will only be available in Atlanta, Detroit, Miami
and Dallas in its initial phase, will also only be available for elite frequent
fliers with American Airlines and Delta, as well as members of other
programs like Global Entry. Eventually, the program might open up to all air
passengers, but with added costs of a possible $100 application fee
and potential pre-flight fingerprints or iris
scans. Welcome to the future of air travel.

First
Americans to visit Cuba have mixed reactionsThe first American travellers to travel
to Cuba as part of the new people-to-people
tours have shown mixed reactions to the orphanages, medical facilities, art
museums, music performances and tobacco farms they have visited (sunbathing on
the Caribbean beaches is not allowed). While some people have enjoyed
experiencing a long-forbidden culture, "some people feel horrible that
getting coffee is a struggle and food stuff is hard [to find] and that there's
two economies and that a doctor has to drive a taxi to supplement his
income," Insight Cuba's Tom Popper told
Reuters.

Quotable"It was a wall of water. It just seemed to
black out the sky. We knew we were going to get rolled. When it hit us it was a
turmoil of white water. Our oars were gone, we were thrown overboard,
everything was ripped apart. We just thought we were going to die."

- James Adair, who paddled alongside Ben Stenning as
the first pair to row the 3,200
nautical miles across the Indian Ocean unsupported. They are only the third
pair in history to complete the task with or without support, BBC
News reports, and they barely survived. On the final day of the 116-day
journey, their boat capsized in sight of shore, and a flotilla of Mauritian
rescue boats came to the rescue.